[Nexus] Inside 51

[Earl of Purple]

Red Zone- Up the Ladder

The ladder creaks and groans alarmingly under Samantha's weight. Not that I'm saying she's fat, just that the ladder is old, rusty, and hasn't been used in a very long time. The ladder leads to a flat roof. There's several more flat roofs nearby, including one on the other side of the alleyway that could be accessed by jumping if she feels confident enough. Alternately, there's a row of windows overlooking the roof in the building to the left, one of which is broken. The building to the right has a pitched roof, though there's enough holes in the tiles that it could, conceivably, be climbed. Also, somebody has built a small shack on this roof out of assorted scrap materials. It is about two metres long, wide and tall, with a door held closed by a bicycle lock with rubberised chain. The lock is probably the most sturdy part of the structure.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Red Zone - Rooftops]

Samantha not being one to leave a potential threat behind her, she goes over and, standing to one side, so as to hopefully throw off anyone who might shoot at where the sound came from, or anything like that, knocks on the door of the shack.

Should she get no response, she'll repeat this process a few times, switching sides each time she does, though being careful to knock in the same spot no matter where she's standing, then, if she still hasn't gotten an answer, she'll try to kick the area where the chain connects the door and the wall, in order to hopefully rip the chain out of one or both.

If she manages that, then she'll look around carefully; otherwise, she'll simply move on, heading for the roof with the broken window.

[Earl of Purple]

Red Zone- Rooftops

There's no reply to any of the knocking. When the door is kicked in, it falls off completely- it's supposed to open outwards, and kicking it in smashed the hinges as well as ripped the lock off. Inside there's a pile of ragged bedding, a battered metal shelving unit with a collection of items upon it and a battered cardboard box serving as a table, with a plate and some cutlery upon it. Whomever lives here is currently away.

[Halae]

[Some Street Somewhere]

Rushing about is a man in a a cotton shirt and basic cloth pants; he appears to be he sort of person you'd expect to see on a medieval farm and the like. "Please! Can anybody help me?" He seems a bit panicked, though that may be because of all the new sights and sounds.

[Devixer]

Some Street Somewhere

This man is quickly approached by a woman in a white hooded robe and leather armor, who is carrying several medieval weapons. "You require help? What is going on?" she asks.

[Hattish Thing]

\
Red Zone

Sir Hex steps out of thin air onto the corner of Cirrus and Arkhan, pulling a delusionally incohorent Marty after him. "And here we are! Inside! The beating heart of madness in this world! Now, Marty, go! Go forth and conquer! Seize the day!" And so saying, he attempts to spin Marty round towards the nearest alley and give him a quick boot to the butt to get him going.

Marty groans and is pushed into the alley, completely confused. He's kicked and wobbles over into the dark alley. Wuh...wait, w-what? That's n-not funny...Noh funny... Marty groans and leans against the alley wall, spitting on the ground. NExt he looks into the shadows, watching the wall grow faces and turning and faces and voices and shadows!

Are you playing his illusions?

[Lady Serpentine]

Red Zone- Rooftops

There's no reply to any of the knocking. When the door is kicked in, it falls off completely- it's supposed to open outwards, and kicking it in smashed the hinges as well as ripped the lock off. Inside there's a pile of ragged bedding, a battered metal shelving unit with a collection of items upon it and a battered cardboard box serving as a table, with a plate and some cutlery upon it. Whomever lives here is currently away.

[Red Zone - Rooftops]

Samantha looks over the items on the shelving unit, though if there's nothing of note, she'll write a quick note, along the lines of 'Sorry for smashing your door. Got attacked by something and thought it might have friends here. Buy yourself something nice.', with ten of the gold coins stacked on top of it, followed by heading out and for the building with the broken window.

[Halae]

Some Street Somewhere

This man is quickly approached by a woman in a white hooded robe and leather armor, who is carrying several medieval weapons. "You require help? What is going on?" she asks.

[Some Street Somewhere]

"It's our children. They've been vanishing in the night, and we need help. The village elder is too proud to realize that we need people to save us when we can't help ourselves." he says, "we don't know where they're going, but the town is dying; most people are packing up and leaving rather than have their children kidnapped like the rest."

[Lost_Deep]

Some Street Somewhere

Someone else was in hearing range, and does start toward the man before the woman gets to him. It's another woman, with bright blue eyes and dark green hair. She walks up, and listens to what he says. "That's quite upsetting. I'm more than willing to help, sir," she states simply.

[Earl of Purple]

Red Zone- Rooftops

The items on the shelves include spent bullet casings, musket balls, an old metal tobacco tin filled with relatively-shiny buttons, several small animal skulls, a bag of jelly babies and a small lump of black warpstone, giving off a faint green glow. If the warpstone is directly handled, it might cause minor physical mutations, but otherwise it's too small to have any effect.

The window leads into a small room, apparently used as a storage space. Seven metal crates are stacked against one wall, and a bookshelf lines another. Everything is old and covered in dust- it seems nobody has visited the room for a very long time.

[OrchestraHc]

Black Clad Gentleman

Why, yes, this does seem like a good point for a



Market Street

One day later a certain merkin can be found slinking along market street, surrounded by an island of solitude in the sea of people, thanks to hissing violently at anyone who gets near. Finding an empty spot between the rows of booths, Mel unrolls a tarp to sit on and waits for his partner in crime.

[Market Street]

Pepperjack is there in short order, a bag of trash treasures, enchantable, shiny, valuable treasures for Mel to use his deep sea mojo on. "Good day, Melbourne. I take it we are about to set up shop." The assassin takes a look at the cleared space. "You must have driven a hard bargain to be given such a wide berth. Quite impressive." It's not hard to imagine Melbourne getting *snerk* CRABBY with anyone who didn't agree with him.

[Mr. Moon]

A Street in a Place

The group is soon joined by a young tiefling girl, all crimson skin and long, straight white hair. Her horns double back from where they protrude from her forehead, curving back along her head only to turn back forwards so they set into a gentle stop around her cheekbones. Several rings hang from them, largely made of silver with cheap fake jewels set in them. But it looks pretty, and that's what matters really. She wears more modern apparel than the farmer and the medievally-armed woman - a low-cut navy shirt decorated with stars under an open black and white overshirt and jeans that are rather on the snug side. She comes to a stop by the gathering, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Sounds like yer all gonna need 'nother hand," she comments in a vaugly metropolitan drawl. "I gots the day off t'day. Guess I could lend m' wand."

[Devixer]

Some Street Somewhere

As she listens to the man's plea, the woman's left hand clenches into a fist. "I will be sure to investigate, sir," she says, only acknowledging the presence of the other two with a nod towards each of them.

[Halae]

[A Street Somewhere]

The man looks hesitantly between the three women, and then nods, "Thank you very much, kind madams. Please, we need to hurry back to my village." He doesn't like getting a group of women for this, but, desperate times...

As he starts moving in a hurried walk towards the village exit, he says, "My name is Sebastion. Might I ask yours?"

[Lady Serpentine]

[Red Zone - Rooftops]

Unfortunately, she doesn't know what warpstone is, only that it might be valuable, or magical, and that it's quite possible this was where that thing was living, as well as that she has very little, and thus picks it up.

When she arrives in the next building, she looks through the crates first, checking each carefully.

[Lost_Deep]

A Street Somewhere

"Copi," the green-haired woman says simply. She's wearing an odd, green dress, too... it looks a bit like a lab coat. If the others get a good look at her, they might notice that her skin doesn't look quite natural... and her eyes look creepy from the wrong angle.

[Mr. Moon]

A Street! We're Walkin' On It!

Sticking her thumbs in her pockets, the teifling trails along behind Sebastian. "Name's Tessa," she says, with a nod and a smile. Either she has great genes or her parents forced her into braces as a kid because damn those teeth are straight. Coffee stained, though. "Tessa Locke. So, ah, what, 'xactly, is goin' on wit' yer kids?"

[Devixer]

Walkin' on the Street

"Iamar Shalhoub," the hooded woman says, easily able to keep the man's hurried pace. She doesn't say much otherwise, though, and doesn't seem too unusual besides all the weapons she openly carries.

[Earl of Purple]

Red Zone- Rooftops

The first chest contains a large assortment of advanced electrical components. Despite the fact that they are probably five or ten years ahead of Earth, they look like they have been sitting here for about twenty.

The second chest contains lots of tissue paper and a small derringer, though there's no ammunition and it is currently unloaded.

The third chest has a small satin bag containing a fire opal hidden amongst a collection of broken toys.

The fourth chest has a posh black tophat that looks as good as new. It helps whomever wears it be more persuasive, though also more likely to have an argument.

The fifth chest contains the sounds of a funfair, which quickly leak out when it is opened.

The sixth chest is the coffin of a mummified cat's corpse with a ruby-encrusted collar about its neck and a small pearl earring in its left ear.

The seventh chest is empty besides an ornate pen placed carefully in the centre of a pentagram surrounded by mystic-looking symbols. Both the symbols and the pentagram give off a faint orange light.

[Halae]

[A Street Somewhere]

Sebastian keeps walking as he talks, moving off into a plot thread with the three women.

[Morcleon]

[DMC 2.0]

Hmm such things allways sound strange. Need of high technologie, but unable to reach. The question comes up hoe he will get there.

"Don't worry about that. I was send to the Nexus so we got enougth power to travel through other planes." And the fact is that her god only gives out things if he get's something back.

[DMC 2.0]

"Well, it's not quite another plane," mumbles Yuki, still a bit hesitant. "It's more of another existence altogether."

He pauses for a second, then perks up. "I could take you there. Doubt I could take any more people though..."

[McBish]

Gothic House - Rooftop

"A planned smoke bomb would have been useful." Young Star just will not let that go.

Young Star (tries to) pretty handily binds the mages hands behind his back and ankle while we're at it. Assuming that goes by without incident, he
shakes the wizard by the shoulder trying to get him up.

Calvin just frowns and continues to pace. The wizard's mind seems to be clearing. "Ow, what? Where am I?" He looks up at Young Star and Calvin and groans a bit. "Damm."

[GrandDM]

[Shadowside]

In the air above the strange, light-inverted district, Shadow hovers, looking down. He seems to be tracking something. Picking his moment, he dives low, landing neatly on the pavement. He walks along the road, carefully avoiding the worst of the light cast by the shadow-buildings, moving towards one person in particular. When he reaches her, he speaks:

"I didn't realise I had a counterpart here."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Shadowside]

The woman, who is half-shadow, half-flesh, with black hair, and eyes that eat light, though Shadow, being rather odd himself may find her pretty, shrugs.

"Nor did I... Here for the usual dueling game?"

[GrandDM]

[Shadowside]

Shadow's head tilts slightly to one side, and you get the feeling that, if he had a face, he would be frowning.

"Duelling game? I haven't heard of any duelling game. I came here because of you."

He examines her closely, paying particular attention to the join between shadow and flesh.

"You would appear to be my counterpart from another realm... tell me, how much have you developed your powers?"

[Lady Serpentine]

[Shadowside]

"Not here for my head, then? Excellent! And I would say I have developed them reasonably far, given what I am now and the limitations that entails... What of you, though, cousin? You seem to have certain abilities yourself to have gotten here..."

Where shadow meets flesh ripples and distorts as she speaks, sliding across her body...

[GrandDM]

[Shadowside]

Shadow nods slowly, still considering. He examines the strange ripples closely, watching how they form and dissipate.

"Indeed, I have power... although I haven't exercised it properly in aeons. I tend towards reclusiveness... when you're immortal, making friends is hard. You always know that you'll outlast them, you'll still be there when they've long since crumbled into dust...

But that's beside the point. Yes, I am powerful, but it's you who is the real curiosity here. The 'what I am now' comment suggests that you weren't always like this, and I must admit I am curious as to how you came to be merged with... whichever half of you wasn't there before. As to the join... I have never seen anything like this, although I knew it was theoretically possible... but the power required to do so would be immense."

Shadow thinks for a moment.

"You mentioned a duelling game? I would be interested to see just how strong you really are... strictly a friendly match, of course."

[Slii Arhem]

Vacant Lot

"And..." The ice melts, the water falling to the ground. "Nope, it melts. It's not permanent ice. This is somehow easier than I was expecting it to be... well, I'm getting a little tired."

Vacant Lot

Sophie gets a nod in response, "Yeah, minor fey have limits to how much power they can use before resting, because there's so many of them to make up for how limited each one is. When a bunch of pixies get together in a swarm it really doesn't matter if one of them runs out of dust, there's plenty more to replace her. So if fire and ice are both things you can use... maybe it's to do with temperature? That doesn't sound exactly right, since you made an explosion first. Maybe it's physical reactions instead." Could be a lot of things from what they've seen so far, but if Sophie is getting a feel for what doesn't work, it'll be easier to narrow it down the more she keeps working at it.

[Lost_Deep]

Vacant Lot

Sophie is making some other gestures, trying to get more to work. "I don't know? I'm trying some other things and they aren't working. What's some really archtypical spells? Can't fly, can't move stuff around, can't-" Suddenly electricity arcs between her hands. "Yeep!"

[Slii Arhem]

Vacant Lot

"Huh..." Well that's something. Maybe...

"Try making vibrations maybe? Like sound waves. I think it might be more energy than anything else. I mean, you had kinetic, the thermal both ways, and now electrical."